The former legendary ABC News anchor, Tom Jarriel, died on Thursday, October 24, at the age of 89. Jarriel, whose work includes covering the Richard Nixon presidency and Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, is survived by Joan, his wife of 57 years, and three sons. His cause of death remains undetermined, but it is most likely related to natural causes.
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The news broke as ABC published an obituary on their main ABC News website as well as on ABC 7 NY. "We honor the depth and breadth of Jarriel's 38 years at ABC," reads ABC's statement. "We celebrate his sense of fairness, of integrity, but most of all, his humanity. On and off the air, Jarriel embodied the best of everyone at ABC News."
David Guillbault, a former ABC producer, also commented on Jarriel's passing. "For a time I was the Senior Producer of the weekend newscasts when Tom was an anchor," said Jarriel. "Tom was the consummate broadcast journalist. And he was always a skilled, calm, and steady presence,"
A Remarkable Life
Jarriel was born in Georgia and grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. When he was 24 years old, he joined KPRC, a television station in Houston, Texas. His career then took a turn when he joined ABC in 1965. Three years later, he was covering the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., making a name for himself as he began to be known nationally.
In 1969, one year later, Jarriel received a promotion and became the Chief White House Correspondent for ABC. This proved vital to his career as the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal took place in 1972. Later, he would cover Gerard Ford's administration after Nixon's resignation in 1974.
Following his many accomplishments, he was named ABC's Weekend Report anchor and he joined ABC's primetime news magazine, 20/20. His work on the latter was remarkable, covering topics such as the sexual abuse of female members of the armed forces and the suffering of children in Romanian orphanages.
He ultimately retired in 2002, but he was highly regarded as one of the greats, winning multiple Emmy awards for his work.
